Lighting by association
France 31st July 2010
When you are on holiday you generally want to relax and recharge your batteries doing things you like and enjoying life without stress and deadlines! In my case enjoying the beach, doing nature walks, having our meals with family and friends and do the occasional shopping at the local flea market. Being outside for our daily dose of daylight and breathing in fresh air really makes a difference!
I am still mulling around about the lighting systems on the A380, with all the scene settings, the different light colours and brightness’s, etc. Now with the ever changing daylight conditions I am experiencing (it s amazing how much passes us by during our hectic work life!) like sunrise, sunset, rain, clouds, blue skies, which are the natural lighting effects we are all familiar with and feel totally natural to us. We associate each light with certain moods and activities and hence when these same light conditions are artificially recreated we associated these feelings and moods to it.
As lighting designers we make use of these associations when design the lighting environment for different applications. Hypermarkets ( I think the French are one of the inventors of this concept, like Carrefour) have a totally different approach in lighting then a a high end fashion boutique from Hermes for instance (let’s stay in France for this). In the first concept you want as much people to shop and buy as quickly as possible. Shopping as a business…In the boutique situation, you want the shoppers to relax, take their time, enjoy. Shopping for fun… The first has high, bright and cool lighting colours (mid day situation), the second has focused, dedicated and warm light (late afternoon situation). The same can be applied to dining, exquisite versus fast food. (candle versus fluorescent lighting), etc.
Then there is also the psychology of warm light in cold countries or vice versa. We associate warm coloured light with warm feelings and hence you will generally see warm light applied in cold climates and cool light colours in tropical countries. There isn’t really any difference in ambient temperature, it is just the psychological effect and our association with it.
Our mind is a very interesting part of our body…..
The big lighting stuff
France, 30th July 2010
I just landed in France for a short holiday, after a 12 hour flight in the almighty Airbus 380 double-decker airplane. They don’t come much bigger than that. I have blogged before about the latest LED technologies that are integrated in the plane’s lighting, such as cool, warm and ambient night light. Though I managed to sleep most of the way I had ample time to ponder about the meaning of big in lighting…
On project level these are the humongous projects that seem to be prevalent more and more which can command lighting design fees in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. I am talking about complete city or township developments, mega commercial resorts and mixed developments. They seem more rule than exception in the Asia Pacific and Middle East region. These are generally projects that require a lot of manpower totally taken up for an indefinite time. Even though these projects have a time schedule, the sheer size of the projects are a sure recipe for delays and setbacks, let alone high stress levels as huge investments are at stake. These projects also come with millions of dollars in supplies with at times unimaginable quantities and power requirements.
Strangely enough the actual lighting fixtures are not really big by any meaning. Installation size maybe big, but the actual light fitting components are relatively small. The biggest light fittings I am aware of are those multi kilowatt search beams or laser installations which can have sizes up to a small Mini, but otherwise our average architectural lights are very small by comparison and easy to carry by hand.
The only exception maybe the light of a lighthouse. I have visited some lighthouses over the years which are very impressive to see, specifically in terms of their lighting reflector system. I have such lighthouse not far from where I am staying…its light can be seen each night from miles away. Together with the sun and the moon these are three almighty big light sources…:)
Design intent
Singapore 29th July 2010
Lighting design is our “bread and butter” so obviously it is part of our daily activities. All lighting design starts with an idea, a thought on how the lighting could be created. The design process can be painful or smooth depending on the flow of our creative juices…Sometimes we straight away know by just looking at the project, what the direction of the lighting design should be (obviously experience counts here), sometimes we toss and turn and can’t get a satisfactory starting point for our lighting design.
Often when we start the design process the architect, interior designer or landscape consultant is still in the design process themselves, leaving us to guess many of the details. The good thing about this is that we can still influence their design process and can provide input about certain lighting effects that may affect the overall architectural concept. It also means that our lighting design is a design intent, a general direction of the lighting concept or design theme that we would like to apply for the lighting in the project.
The trouble that we face is that not all clients understand the princile of design intent. Many clients have no imagination at all and cannot visualize how the final lighting effects are going to be. We use mood images to give impressions of the lighting mood or the lighting effects we have in mind and complement that with artist renderings to the best we can at that point in time. But obviously it is as good as our input and only represents a design intent, certainly in the early stages of the creative design process. The key is to manage expectations of the client and make sure he or she understands it is a design intent and that along the way the final result will vary depending physical and financial limitations that we face as the project progresses….
PS: I will be on leave in Europe for the next 10 days for a well deserved break, so my blogs maybe a bit irregular, but I will do my best to keep it up! Thanks for all the well wishers in regards to my back injury. I had some intensive specialist treatment this past week and I am healing well, my leave break will be a welcome time to further help me get back in shape! 🙂
The perfect staff
Singapore 28th July 2010
While talking about staff capacity in one of my recent blogs it is important to mention and look at individual skills when searching for staff. It is obvious from my blogs that I am looking for staff, hence the recurring subject, but at the same time we have to be very selective in the staff we recruit for various reasons. Each staff has their own personality, character, strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately we don’t really know these until we employ them! I have found that the “loudest” generally fail to deliver to expectation and the more “shy” ones over time tend to develop into real reliable and strong staff. It is not for nothing that we generally apply a probation period on employment. It serves both ways. It allows us as the employer to abort a staffs’ employment if we are not satisfied with the performance or it is not working out; reversely it allows new staff a way out if the job is not to expectation.
The perfect staff would be very experienced in lighting design with many years in designing and executing projects with many successful projects as testimony. Multi skilled in all aspects of lighting design from creation, visualization, documentation to management with a smart eye on how to make money for the company. Ideally the person communicates engagingly, convincingly but diplomatically, speaks many languages with Chinese as key for this part of the world with a great personality and team spirit. The more travelled and seasoned, the more this person will be understanding of the different geographical markets and culture differences that impact on our projects….
Interestingly I find that the best staff are those who have a life and other interests outside work! I strongly believe this balance is vital.
But to make this work it is critical that the boss is able to delegate and trust his “man”. I don’t know about others but I am still a very hands-on man wanting to be involved in every aspect of the project. But as the company grows and with it the number of projects, it becomes a near impossible mission and more and more crucial to be able to let go and delegate…
The right light…
Singapore 27th July 2010
One of the slogans applied in lighting design is; “the right light, at the right place…with some adding: …at the right time”. Time and again (nearly daily I can say) we face the situation that we need to decide which light fitting (“the right light”) to select for the location (read: application, “the right place”) this light is needed, with “the right time” referring to the lighting control needed for the light. Today was a day as any other ….
So how do we decide on what is “right”? Of course experience comes into place as an overriding key factor in the final decision, but the initial selection is based on many different considerations, some more obvious than others. Setting aside our own preferences for certain brands and lighting systems we find ourselves at times guided my small little trivial issues in the selection of our light fittings.
For instances client’s preferences… some clients give explicit directions about suppliers they want to use. We are guided by our professional ethics and the client’s preference may not always fit the profile of the light fittings we have in mind…so tactful handling of the situation is required, most of the time ending in some sort of compromise.
Local availability of light fittings is another one closely related to this with local in this part of the world generally meaning China (or Asia) made. Product ranges are often limited and not always available in the quality, shape or form we ideally require for the application the lighting is intended for.
There are also less relevant issues such as the physical shape and colour of the trim/housing of the light fitting that are often directed to us by interior designers or architects. While we may have our own opinion about what we like, the final call on the esthetics of the fittings is generally by the lead design consultants unless it has a direct effect on the lighting results. Let’s face it… whether a down light has a square or round trim or even trim less design, does not really affect the lighting performance. It does have a visual impact so we do include that as part of our creative design thinking and selection process…however it remains a mad, mad project world out there … 🙂
Staff capacity
Singapore 26th July 2010
With the economy back on track in most parts of this world, the number of new projects is increasing fast and we are scrambling with our man power to fulfill the project demands. It seems at this moment less difficult to get a job then to actually deliver the works! I hear many others in the design consultancy business in this region face the same situation. One of the big interior design firms in Singapore has grown nearly 50% in staff capacity over the last few months alone. In the lighting design business (and in my own company now) the pressure is on too.
With a growing staff capacity the question arises how to arrange the office set up. The larger an office the more segregated the individual skills. Large design practices would have project managers, project designers, CAD production staff, visual renderers, staff that look after documentation, etc. In this way a project team can consist of many people.
But lighting design practices typically are small in size and most of us multi task. This requires the typical lighting designer to have multiple skills and experiences. He or she needs to have project management skills, creative design experience, proficiency in computer skills (whether in lighting calculations or visualisations), product knowledge and certainly understanding of technical site installation issues. People with all these skills combined are difficult to find. Those how possess these skills either run their own company or have high level management positions in existing companies.
So with the growing demand for man power the alternative option is to look for specific skills and build a team around several people each with one or more of the skills needed. Though I am realistic enough to accept the market situation, I am a big supporter of lighting designers having the full understanding (and experience) of what it takes from to realize a project from creation to completion. At least the project design leader should have all these skills preferably with vast application knowledge.
Unfortunately some people like to call themselves lighting designers without this basic knowledge, but because the enormous demand they get away with…as the saying goes: “In the land of the blind, one eye is king!”…isn’t it?
Environmental sustainability
Singapore 25th July 2010
Sustainability is obviously one of the trendy subjects wherever you go, whether you read a magazine, see it in one of those “green” TV programs or your client is mentioning it as part of your design brief. According to Wikipedia and other media, sustainability has become a term that is used now in nearly every facet of our life and certainly in our (building) industry. As our human population grows our way of living has a parallel negative impact on the ecological balance of nature and its natural resources. It is not difficult to see that humanity is living in an unsustainable way and that we need to reorganize the way we live and consume.
But it is important to note that environmental sustainability cannot be seen separate from economical sustainability and cultural sustainability. What it means is that unless it is financially viable and it will be hard to get people to apply a sustainable way of living. At the same time this sustainable way should also be compatible with the various cultures in which it is to be applied. What works in Europe does not necessarily work in India or China.
Specifically the money part seems to be the biggest stumbling block in our projects. At the beginning everyone is enthusiastic about the “green” goals but by the time the related cost estimates comes in there is a sudden change of heart. People generally are only interested to do these things if they get better from it not if it costs then more then conventional solutions. I talk main stream, as there are always trendsetters and environmentally conscious people for whom cost is not the main decision maker. A good quality LED down light will cost you about 4 times more than a conventional compact fluorescent or halogen down light for about 50% energy saving at comparable performance. Even though pay back times of several years maybe acceptable to some it is generally a threshold that many project clients fail to take.
Therefore sustainability has to be considered as part of a financial viability and cultural acceptance as well…the good news is that more and more clients put their actions where their mouth is.
Brightness
Singapore 24th July 2010
How bright can a light source be? The news over the last few days reported about the discovery of a star in a galaxy somewhere far away in the universe that is possibly the brightest star ever measured. Now our sun is pretty bright you would say, but according to the scientists this newly discovered star has a brightness about ten million times that of the sun (!). Hard to imagine how bright that is…
Artificial light sources such as the new LED technology also are becoming incredibly bright and one can start wondering how much brighter the technology can be further pushed. There is a relationship between brightness and lifespan and no doubt cost, so the limitation maybe in its commercial applicability and viability. Because LED technology compacts the actual light emitting point is such small surface the effective brightness is already reaching blinding levels. One can wonder that any further increase in brightness may reach dangerous levels. It is not for nothing that LED is in many cases still classified under laser technology! We have come a long way from the now “pre-historic” LED indicator lights that hardly emit any light at all.
So the question arises how bright an artificial light source can become. We know the multi kilowatt search lights and lighthouse beams as their physical sizes are big and the brightness obvious…a bit like our natural sun. But the brightness of LED’s, from very compact light sources with very narrow beams, is not easy to anticipate for the general public.
It would be interesting to know if there is any limitation to the brightness that man can create from artificial light sources. So far I believe we have not yet found the limit of the physical possibilities, we are just scratching the surface. Just like computer memory and operating capacity keeps growing (it was not so long ago that 1 GB was considered very big, but look now, 100’s of GB is now common standard!) I imagine that the brightness of light sources will keep increasingas well. The main issue for lighting designers will be how to harness the power of light into a safe to use medium….
Health and priorities
Singapore 23rd July 2010
My back is not getting any better and come Monday I will have to start some serious treatment, following my visit to the specialist today. Once you are limited in your movements and activities you realize how important good health is and how much we take it for granted! My meetings next week in India are unlikely to materialize under my current condition and I called my client preemptively today to inform him of my situation. There is no point in playing the hero, my personal health is more important. By calling him now at least has some notice to reorganize the planned meeting.
Over the years I have made some bad calls, specifically when it comes to my private life. But as you get older (and wiser) you become much clearer about the priorities in your life. There is a big cultural expectation in this part of the world that work comes first, then family and health. It is easy to get sucked into that especially when you are younger, more energetic and yet to build your career and place in society. Add to that setting up a new lighting design practice while having to assure the income for a family with school going kids and the pressure to perform may at times sway your priority decision making.
I remember a particular situation just after setting up my practice where the client sort of threatened me to kick me out of the job if I would not come to the Philippines for an important site meeting. This happened at a time that both my then wife and newly born were very sick and in need of support. Though I arranged for someone to look after them, I later felt the decision to go on the trip was not the right priority. I should have stayed home to be with my family. With “hindsight” I can say that now, but at the time it was a tough call.
As a designer and running a practice we are continuously put to the test of making decisions in regards to priority. Personal health and family no doubt has to be number one…
I don’t want to see any lights!
Shanghai- Singapore 22nd July 2010
Had to skip a design workshop this morning and go back to see the doctor…my back isn’t getting any better and as I type this blog I am 30,000 ft up in the air on my way back to Singapore. At least the doctor managed to get my back to a reasonable travel state, but 5 hours in a plane seat is not really ideal for my healing, hope it lasts…I may need to cancel all my travelling for a little while….
So with some extra comfort pillows in my back I was pondering about what some clients and interior designers/ architects sometimes say to me when they try and explain their overall thoughts and design intent for a project. And one of those is” I don’t want to see any lights!” Of course what they most of the time mean is that they don’t want to see any exposed lights or direct sight on light sources, etc. And as it happens I am also a great believer in concealed, indirect or very low brightness lighting systems. If anything I just want to see the resulting lighting effects. In other words light reflected of its architectural surrounding. I like to conceal down lights if they are needed in recesses to avoid seeing bright dots in the ceiling, I like lights to be concealed between objects or plants making people wondering were the light comes from. That is the magic of light…
But practical reality does not always allow us to conceal lights and not everybody understands that. Light has to come from a light source somewhere! Many years back one client really pushed it and kept saying he did not want to see any (down) lights. Yet he wanted to achieve certain lighting levels. When we drew down lights recessed in niches he still kept insisting he did not want to see lights We then drew the down light above the ceiling (without any opening in the ceiling to let light through) and asked if that is what he wanted, to which he said yes. When we explained that in this way he would not have any light at all, he got the point….
Not everybody understand the way light works…I guess that is one of the reasons there are lighting designers in this world 🙂
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